Nature and Wellbeing

We’ve dedicated more than four decades in the plant and flower business to nature and wellbeing. Our mission is enriching peoples’ lives with plants. Good Earth Plant Company has a greater appreciation for our wellbeing as we all do since the pandemic.

How do we improve the quality of our workplaces, our homes, and all the other indoor spaces where we spend the majority of our time? Can we clean the air? Remove toxins? Add oxygen and make ourselves healthier, happier, and more productive? Yes!

If we are not going to spend more time outside in nature, we have to bring nature INSIDE. We have to recreate living in nature the best way we can.

Ever wonder why you seem to have trouble concentrating on anything, or feel down more than seems normal? You may be suffering from a lack of Vitamin N (that’s “Nature”). You are feeling the lack of connection to nature and wellbeing, which we now study as biophilia, the innate tendency of human beings to find their place and their relationship with the natural world. People suffer from their lack of biophilic connection when they’re shut inside all day and night.

Adding plants to your indoor environment along with natural light and fresh air can go a long way toward improving your quality of life through the combination of nature and wellbeing.

 

San Diegans Prove Biophilia Is For Real

| November 30, 2017 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Nature and Wellbeing
If there is one thing people know San Diego for, it’s our nice weather. Actually, people think we have perfect weather. Every time they see San Diego on television during an event like Comic-Con, or professional golf tournaments at Torrey Pines, it’s 75 degrees and clear with minimal humidity. If you travel like I do to conferences in other parts of the United States and mention you’re from San Diego, the first thing you hear is a sigh, and then some version of “I’d love to live in San Diego” or “I’d love to visit San Diego.” Or maybe, “I loved visiting San Diego!”… Read More

Good Earth Plant Company Show and Tell at the Mingei

| October 19, 2017 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Awards & Achievements, Biophilic Design, Case Studies, Good Earth Plant Company, Nature and Wellbeing
Outside of my family of course, there isn’t much I love more than bringing nature and plants into places people work, live, and play. I’m still just as enthusiastic about my mission as I was when I bought my original bucket stand selling flowers and then plants downtown nearly 40 years ago. What comes close is TALKING about the power of nature and plants to make our lives better. If a group of people invites me to come to their conference or meeting or program, they do not have to ask twice. I want people in the audience to walk away with a new way of appreciating nature and with some ideas for incorporating nature into their workplaces and homes.… Read More

Adding Plants Isn’t Rocket Science, But It Should Be

| October 12, 2017 | Categories: Case Studies, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
Have you ever felt that post-lunchtime slump at work, around 2 p.m.? You probably blamed it on the California burrito you ate, or a morning coffee crash. The more likely culprit turns out to be carbon dioxide. A research study conducted earlier this year by Harvard, Syracuse, and SUNY Upstate Medical Universities studied office environments and determined the level of carbon dioxide in the average office environment reaches its daily peak around 2 p.m. The CO2 level of 1,000 parts per million is 2.5 times the level of carbon dioxide in the outside atmosphere. Read more about this study in the Harvard Business Journal.… Read More

Change Your Screen, Change Your Life

| October 5, 2017 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Nature and Wellbeing
Just looking at photos of nature like our popular Monkey Faced Orchids can give some of the positive benefits of being outdoors. Monkey Faced Orchids (we love them too much to leave them out)
Where is your phone right now? Chances are good you can reach for it. One in three of you is reading this blog post on a phone right now. According to a 2016 Nielsen Research report, we are now spending nearly 11 hours a day using our tablets, smartphones, personal computers, multimedia devices, video games, radios, DVDs, DVRs and TVs. It’s an hour higher than 2015. We’re all told to put the devices down. You see how well that advice is going over! I’m as guilty as any of you. In my profession, it worries me. The more time we are looking at our smartphones while eating lunch or binging on “Narcos” during a weekend is time we aren’t appreciating the natural world around us.… Read More

Nature’s Way To Boost Employee Productivity

| September 28, 2017 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Environment, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
American workers are known for their productivity, and while we aren’t number one on many lists, we remain in the top five overall on nearly all of them. So it’s kind of shocking to me to read the results of a Gallup Poll from June 2017 which found two-thirds of all employees in the United States say they are “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” at work. These employees aren’t applying themselves. They are just getting by. Most of the time they are checked out. Presenteeism is a new term defining employees that are present, but not engaged. This is not a small thing.… Read More

Millennials Push Us To Green Up The Suburbs

| September 20, 2017 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilia, Environment, Green Roofs, Nature and Wellbeing
Three generations of Mumfords together at La Jolla Shores celebrating Mother's Day in better times, May 2016: (L to R) daughter Allie, Mom, and yours truly.
The Millennial Generation is full of pleasant surprises. No, I’m not being sarcastic! I know the Millennials pretty well through my son Ted and my daughter Allie, their friends, and plenty of my employees and colleagues I meet at conferences and meetings. It is a big mistake to stereotype Millennials or dismiss them. They are the largest single generation in the United States today, 75.4 million people between ages 20 and 36. There’s no way 75 million people are alike enough to agree on anything or act a certain way. But people follow trends and when that many people go in a particular direction, we need to pay attention.… Read More

Urban Corps San Diego Participates in Our ‘Plants With Purpose’ Program

| September 2, 2017 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Case Studies, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
Urban Corps San Diego is the latest participant in Good Earth Plant Company’s “Plants With Purpose” donation program for nonprofit organizations. We are able to donate plants being recycled from our plantscaping clients to nonprofits which can put the power of nature to good use. Brennan Hubbell from Urban Corps Recycling Education and Outreach San Diego paid us a visit to pick up plants for use in its programs. We were happy to contribute to our old friends at the Urban Corps. Good Earth Plant Company installed the organization‘s rooftop urban farm several years ago, and donated plants and pots on another occasion to help stock its Recycling ECO Center’s Rooftop Resource Garden, a valuable recent addition to its facility.… Read More

In Business, Green is Good

| August 17, 2017 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Case Studies, Environment, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
  When did you last spend time outdoors? You might think everyone is outside enjoying summer weather and school vacations.  In San Diego, there’s hardly a day all year when you can’t be outside in short sleeves (or less). Buried in a report by the Environmental Protection Agency from 1989 is this shocking statistic: people in industrialized countries include the U.S. and Europe  spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors. Specifically, people spend 93 percent of their time indoors, with anther five percent in transit in a car or public transportation, and just two percent outside. I’d like to think this number is lower in San Diego, but even if it’s 80 percent, it’s still a sobering reality.… Read More

Hiring an Interior Plantscaping Service?

| August 3, 2017 | Categories: Case Studies, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
Good Earth Plant horticultural technicians Carlos and Marco install plants at the Alpha Project in San Diego serving homeless..
You’ve admired or flat out envied the beautiful plants in other offices, and you’ve read all about the many benefits of interior Plantscaping. So you have decided it’s time to improve your business or organization’s workspaces and hire a professional to help you. You’ve made a great decision. Even if this wasn’t the way I’ve earned a living for close to 40 years, I’d be just as enthusiastic about all the benefits you, your employees, and your customers and guests will enjoy as a result. Now in addition to everything else on your plate at work, you’re probably wondering how exactly how to go about hiring the right company to create the perfect green spaces in your home, office or building.… Read More

This Is The Next Innovation In Building Design

| July 27, 2017 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Nature and Wellbeing
Sometimes it’s difficult to get people to embrace change. One happy exception is the adoption of the LEED building standard. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in just the past 13 years, it’s now the standard for energy-saving, cost-efficient building the United States. It provides rating systems for everything from design to maintenance to materials and operation. It applies to everything from luxury homes to the new stadiums in San Francisco and Minneapolis. The design firm Gensler is at the forefront of both LEED and WELL Building Standard certification. Gensler’s Los Angeles office includes our new living wall bridge.Thanks to LEED, most people have a basic idea of the ways green building practices should be applied as the norm: energy efficiency, improve air, access to daylight and outside views.… Read More